Rhizopus rot caused by Rhizopus stolonifer, is considered as a major destructive postharvest disease of
stone fruits such as peach that severely decreases the
shelf life of stored fruits. The aim of this research was
to determine and monitor the antifungal activity of
essential oils from three medicinal plants, to control
Rhizopus stolonifer on peach fruits and enhance fruit
shelf life and storage ability. Essential oils extracted
from sage (Salvia officinalis), savory (Satureja hortensis) and zataria or Shiraz thyme (Zataria multiflora).
These essential oils were added to Petri dishes containing PDA (potato dextrose agar) by two methods, direct
contact and fumigation. Results obviously showed that
fumigation with zataria and savory essential oils
completely inhibited R. stolonifer growth by volatiles
with 24 and 48 µl concentrations. In the case of direct
contact, zataria at 360 µl l–1 had maximum inhibition
(96 %) upon mycelial growth of R. stolonifer. The main
components of zataria oil were carvacrol (38.50 %),
thymol (25.50 %) and p-cymene (13.35 %), and savory
oil were carvacrol (38.00 %), p-cymene (32.20 %) and
γ-terpinene (21.65 %).